KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip - Hundreds of Palestinian students in the Gaza Strip continue to study in makeshift camps amid ongoing Israeli airstrikes on the enclave, which turned educational infrastructure into ruins.
Mohammed Hamid, a 10-year-old, leaves his temporary tent in Gaza's southern city of Khan Younis every morning only to join his classmates, who are passionate about studying in temporary cabins initiated by volunteer teachers.
“I, and my fellow students, come every morning to the study tent in Gaza,” said Hamid, who is studying in his fifth grade at elementary school.
“We hope the war ends, so that we are back to our own schools, and play in security and peace,” he said.
The new year of school for more than 625,000 students in Gaza formally ended amid the 13 months of war Israel’s war on the Gaza strip that has led to the destruction of nearly 90 percent of the schools in the enclave, according to the London-based Save the Children organization.
Despite the risks of being caught in the crossfire, around 630 students continue studying in makeshift camps in southern Gaza areas, which are believed to be safer than the rest of the war-torn Strip.
Students are offered a curriculum in line with Gaza's Hamas-based government guidelines.
"We started with one educational unit a few weeks ago, and then we expanded further. Thanks to God, we have now nine educational units that include more than 500 students, and we are nearing 600," said Ikhlas Hanoon, a volunteering teacher and a member of the educational committee established to launch makeshift schools.
Hanoon said they are a group of 43 female teachers who volunteered to teach the children in the make-shift schools.
When Palestinian Hamas militants launched a large-scale incursion into southern Israel, killing more than 1,170 people, according to Israeli figures. Israel responded with a massive ongoing offensive in Gaza.
More than 13 months into the war, over 44,000 people have been killed, and dozens of thousands have been injured, according to the Gaza Strip’s health ministry.
As of November, more than 11,825 students and 441 teachers have been killed in the Gaza Strip since 7 October, the Health Ministry says.
Rekar Aziz contributed to this report.